actuation – TechConnect Briefs

Droplet actuation on a digital microfluidic chip using a 5 volt battery

Rezaei Nejad H., University of British Columbia, CA

This paper presents a circuit using a 5-volt DC battery to actuate droplets on a DMF chip. The output of the circuit is a controllable high voltage, high frequency AC signal which can actuate a [...]

Free-Surface Microfluidics: Exploring New Actuation and Sensing Methods

Yu G., Lei N., Chen X., Xue W., Xu J., Xue W., Washington State University, US

Unlike traditional microchannel-based microfluidics, free-surface microfluidics features no channel, ease to clean, simple design fabrication and operation, as well as external access to the samples. It has been proven that free-surface droplets can be actuated [...]

Near-Infrared Light Induced Mechanical Responses in Single-to-Few Layer Graphene

Loomis J., King B., Panchapakesan B., University of Louisville, US

Layer dependent physical responses of graphene-based polymer composites to near-infrared (NIR) light are reported. Thin film polymer composites were fabricated and compared utilizing both single layer graphene and few layer graphene (~5 layers). NIR-induced axial [...]

Photomechanical Response in Graphene Nanoplatelet Composites

Loomis J., King B., Burkhead T., Xu P., Bessler N., Terentjev E., Panchapakesan B., University of Louisville, US

Large light-induced reversible and elastic responses of graphene nanoplatelet (GNP) polymer composites are reported. Homogeneous mixtures of GNP/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) composites (0.1–5 wt%) were prepared and their near-infrared (NIR) mechanical responses studied with increasing pre-strains. Using [...]

Carbon Based Dimensional Composites

Loomis J., King B., Panchapakesan B., University of Louisville, US

Dimensional dependence of mechanical response in carbon nanostructure composites to near-infrared (NIR) light are reported. Using polydimethylsiloxane, composites were fabricated with one-dimensional multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), two dimensional single-layer graphene, two and a half-dimensional graphene [...]

From Electrical to Fuel Powered Artificial Muscles

Kozlov M.E., Oh J., Mirfakhrai T., Zhang M., Fang S., Ferraris J.P., Madden J.D.W., Baughman R.H., University of Texas at Dallas, US

A number of materials ranging from carbon nanotube yarns and sheets to shape memory alloys (SMA) have been explored for the application in the area of artificial muscles (actuators). It was found that if powered [...]

Flat Fluidics: Programmable On-Chip Networks for Biological and Chemical Applications

Wixforth A., University of Augsburg and Advalytix AG, DE

We present a novel approach towards the needs of a versatile microfluidic chip-based microfluidic system with unique properties and functionality. Like for microarrays and in contrast to many existing microfluidic technologies, the fluid handling is [...]

Device Characterization at the Wafer Level via Optical Actuation and Detection

Hedley J., Burdess J.S., Harris A.J., Gallacher B.J., Newcastle University, UK

This paper investigates the technique of optical actuation of MEMS. It is shown that a device can be driven into all of its vibrational modes simply and non-destructively by a laser pulse, making this an [...]